Hitherto, flanged bearings have been made from arcuate blanks which are clamped in complementary arcuate seatings provided in respective guide blocks of several sets of co-operating dies by a force applied to the parting lines of the blanks. The blanks project laterally beyond side surfaces of the blocks and the projecting portions of the blanks are bent in the sets of dies in a corresponding series of steps until they lie in planes at right angles to the axis of the arcuate central portion of the bearing. The bent blank then has to be machined to form the finished bearing. For individual specialized manufacture of large bearings, e.g. 1 inch of more thick and 2 or 3 feet in diameter, it has been known to form such bearings from arcuate shells and separate flanges which are joined either by using a "clip on" design of flange and shell or by welding, e.g. electron beam welding or spot welding. In such specialized large scale fabrications, it was possible merely to hold the parts in abutment during the welding operation.
It is now considered that a practical method for mass production of flanged plain bearing of standard and other sizes could be achieved by welding together separate shells and flanges using a laser. The present invention is concerned with providing for such manufacture a device capable of supporting the component parts of the bearing ready for welding using a laser.